~ Grace upon grace, One blessing after another

Category Archives: Random

Psalm 145
“I will extol You, my God, O King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wonderful works I will meditate. Men shall speak of the power of your awesome acts, and I will tell of your greatness. They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness and will shout joyfully of Your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. The Lord is God to all, and His mercies are over all His works. All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord, and Your godly ones shall bless You. They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom and talk of Your power; to make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts and the glory of Your majesty of Your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord sustains all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and save them. The Lord keeps all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever.”

Advertisements

Share this:

Like this:

This year I treasured getting to catch up with childhood friends. I live in the city that we grew up in so come holiday seasons, many of my friends come home to visit their families. I love getting to catch up with old friends because they were so much a part of who I am. We are all scattered across the United States, from right here in the Midwest, to Washington D.C., and all the way to Hawaii. It’s the perfect picture of following God’s calls and our dreams. You never know where you’ll end up.

What’s a post without pictures?? Here are some from 2012:

Me, Reese, and Sally.

Me, Becca, and Jessica

Andie’s Wedding!

These pictures aren’t exhaustive…just the ones I was able to steal from facebook 🙂 And here are some from high school. Also stolen from facebook.

The good ole uniforms.

High school sweethearts.

Life has changed so much, yet so much about us is still the same. I am so thankful for the memories we shared and how these girls impacted me. We learned some hard lessons and had some good times.

So thankful to have some time together!

Share this:

Like this:

This year Wes has gotten into bow hunting. In fact, on his first morning hunting, he hit a buck! With his car of course…not the bow. The buck lived and we have nothing but a dent in the car to show for it. It’s a nice reminder of the irony of that morning. Anyway, I had to share that story because it is too funny!

I tried to pull back his bow, but no such luck. It is set for a beefy, brawny man. I didn’t think using a fancy bow would be any more fun than my old-school “Lil Sioux” that I picked out at Bass Pro Shop when I was little. Wes was determined to get me to try so he found a used woman’s bow that a friend was selling. I could draw this smaller one back easily and got hooked instantly. A little more practice and maybe I’ll be the one hitting a buck!

Yes, my arrows are pink and awesome. We had so much fun shooting together. It is a quiet alternative to shooting our pistols during nap time which never pans out well.

Hope you enjoyed your Christmas season wherever you are!

Share this:

Like this:

This Saturday has been rainy and overcast all day. My kind of day for sure. We went to work out together, went to Cabela’s – our version of the indoor zoo, and came home to hang out and pick up. While on the elliptical, I ran across this yummy recipe for cookies in my Parents Magazine and had to try them. When Taylor was born, I got a free subscription with my Boppy pillow and have enjoyed all that I’ve read…when I actually read them.

These cookies were a total hit. When I see more than 1 tsp of vanilla and cinnamon in cookies I tend to get excited. The graham cracker crumbs add the perfect texture. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 sticks salted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 small apple, peeled, cored, and finely chopped

1 cup vanilla caramels

3 Tbsp. whipping cream

Directions

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a bowl, beat butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Beat in sugars until fluffy. Then add eggs and vanilla.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, crumbs, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add to butter mixture and beat until combined. Stir in apple.

In a bowl, mix caramels and cream. Microwave on high for 30 to 60 seconds or until nearly melted, stirring once. Stir until smooth. Drizzle over cookies; serve when hardened.

They definitely taste better with the sound of rain and tunes of Dave Matthews in the background. Apple cider or an americano would pair nicely too. And falling leaves, or better yet a blizzard…A girl can dream!

Enjoy your weekend and bake something tasty!

Share this:

Like this:

Every year the town of Mulvane hosts the Old Settlers Festival. This year was the 139th festival. It started back in the 1800’s as a celebration of harvest and has evolved more each year. One event during the festival is the parade. We have never celebrated Old Settlers Day, but this year Wes’s unit was in the parade. He invited us to go along and ride in the trucks with him. There were lots of people and the kids loved waving and clapping. Wes enjoyed honking the horn nice and loud.

Taylor was scared when Wes first turned on the truck.

Wes helped her become a little more comfortable.

Brendan didn’t mind it.

Getting ready to start the parade

It was tough to keep them from pressing every button in sight!

The beginning of the parade with the Honor Guard

An antique Mulvane fire truck.

There were lots of motorcycles and horses. The high school band had their drum line which was fun too. I was expecting Brendan to be freaked out by all the noises, but it turns out he loved the drums and bopped right along to the music. Taylor was sad when we left the “hooray.” She never quite understood that we were at a parade, not a hooray.

This was the kids 2nd parade that they’ve been too. Taylor has already learned that a similar theme of parades is candy. I don’t think we’ll have to twist her arm to go to any more parades.

Share this:

Like this:

I have had long hair for a long time. I always loved longer hair because it was easier to do. It sounds counter-intuitive, but for me, the shorter the hair, the more I have to do to it. That means more time…and I don’t like spending very much time on my hair. I was ready for a change last week and I felt my hair was getting a little too long, so I got it cut! If you’ve cut many inches off before than you know the weird feeling of getting used to less hair. I think it’s a fun spring/summer length. Now I need all my friends with amazing hair to teach me some tricks! Here is the before and after:

Share this:

Like this:

This is not a Pinterest-worthy 5 steps of “How to Look Your Best.” This is merely what a mother of two young ones does to boost her ego.

1. Don’t buy the extra-light-weight jogging stroller. During a run when it feels really hard, remind yourself that your stroller is extra heavy and your kids are even heavier…so you must be in shape.

The only 50+ of extra pounds I'd be happy to carry!

2. Let your dog get out of shape. Want to feel fast? Forget to work out your dog so that when you do take him out, he lags behind. Nothing makes me feel faster than being able to wear Bennett out.

Ty was the best dog to run with because he was so lazy 🙂

3. Carry all the groceries in at once. I hate making multiple trips with bags while trying to keep Taylor inside. The solution? Load your arms all the way up to the shoulders with your bags. Add some calf raises before you unload. Kidding…I’ve never tried the calf raises. Too bad I don’t have a picture of this one!

4. Save all your chores for one day. Once I get on the chore roll, I am stuck for hours. The problem is that I’d rather spend my hours playing with Taylor and Brendan or outside reading…or anything else really, so I don’t get on cleaning sprees very often. Put on some work out clothes and call it a work out!

Who'd want to clean when you can goof around with these guys?

5. Train for something. This might just be the only serious of my 5 ways! It does a great job of making me feel like I am in shape. I am not up to my pre-babies speed yet, but thankfully that’s not my first post-babies goal.

After a 10K with my dad. I miss those days!

Some days you have to be imaginative so you can see just how in shape you really are! What crazy things make you feel in shape?